The invention relates generally to organizing log records generated for computer systems and, more particularly but not by way of limitation, to a method and system for logically associating database and/or system log records.
Database and System log files contain valuable information to diagnose many types of system problems. Application log files also contain valuable information to understand many types of application activities. The primary purpose of these log files is to record information, to track events and to provide information about operations performed on/by the system. The information in log files is generally recorded chronologically and is not organized in a fashion such that one responsible for the monitoring, maintenance and operation of the computer and/or application can readily see the correct granularity of pertinent information at any given time. Log records (that is, individual entries within a log file) may have cryptic contents, with codes and fields that can be identified and found only with expert-level knowledge. In addition, the quantity of records in log files can present a challenge; to diagnose a particular problem the answer might be found in a handful of records among millions of records spread out across multiple separate log files.